Zod!preggers
Title: You Have Your Father’s Eyes
Summary: Zod has babies. What’s an evil warlord to do?
Pairing: Zod/Jor-El, Zod/ many others. He’s a sex god. Expect everything warm to be fucked, so…
Rating: NC-17 because I’m a perv
Warning: Severe plot bastardization (and Clark bastardization), but IC (I hope), and MPREG. Twice!
Spoilers: Smallville through season five, Superman II, basic Batman and Superman comic canon.
Krypton
20 Years Ago
Science Spire
Zod paced in his office predatorily. With Peru-Col and Seig-An out of the picture, he effectively had no more stumbling blocks on his designated path. Authoritatively, he kicked their plans into high gear, moving the experiments along, forcing the new space program to go public, and above all, keeping the masses unaware of the severe urgency of their situation. The last thing he needed was for the people to panic. Overall, he admired his race for their superiority, but many of them were too limited to realize what he was doing for them, so he had to be cautious who knew the full details to their project. Of course, any who opposed him were tortured mercilessly. He pressed his com and ordered the military to go ahead and round up the stragglers who refused to leave the new danger zones, with force if necessary. Although Ursa almost always deemed force necessary. Kal cooed in his snuggly on Zod’s chest.
Zod kept his son with him at all times. He’d set up a crib in his office so that he could work and scheduled time during the day when he, Lara, and Jor would be together. If he didn’t leave the office on schedule, as often was the case, Lara would drop by and cuddle and play with their son. It wasn’t much of a bother for her to do so, since she was working in the building these days anyway. She had to feed Kal every two hours, so it had been better for them all to include her on the medical end of their project and give her partial disclosure. The early experiments, for instance, were not mentioned. Lara, as usual, had taken the project seriously, treated the secrecy as the logical course of action given the political factors involved, and began familiarizing herself with the work already done on the potential reactions of their people to this kind of treatment. Another woman may have thought to complain about the use of secrecy, and the lies of omission, but Lara instead commented sardonically about the brilliance of their ancestors, protecting them so well that their generation had to find a means out of that protection or die en masse.
Lara smirked at the image of Zod ruthlessly preparing their society for a move with a baby strapped to his chest. Shortly after he’d managed to get back on his feet, noticing that his locks were not becoming any less wilted, Zod had shaved his head almost bare. Now he had only a soft white fuzz. Kal adored it, and sometimes at night she watched as their son ran his hands over his bearer’s head in fascination.
“You should order up something to eat. As it is, I’m going to have to feed Kal again in a few minutes,” Lara interrupted. She’d been working on her CompuPAD, sneaking peeks at the two of them furtively and messaging Jor about their adorableness.
To his credit, Zod looked suitably startled. He checked the time. “Already? I didn’t realize.” He shut off his com and took Kal’s little hand. “Are you ready to eat, Kally? Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry?”
Lara smiled and stood as Zod started to unstrap Kal. She opened her shirt and took the boy gently.
“I feel like I’m keeping him from you,” Zod said suddenly. Lara raised her brows. That was the closest she’d ever heard Zod come to an apology.
“It isn’t as though Jor and I can’t come up here easily. I understand your need to be close to him, and in truth, he’s much more content when you are around. I thought he was going to be fussy at first.” She cradled Kal’s head and encouraged him to take her nipple. “Anyway, the behavior is perfectly normal biologically-“
“I adore your attachment to science, Lara, but for once I’m talking about the relationships of people and not scientific properties.” Zod sat on his desk and looked at her with concern.
“You’re worried about Jor. He’s been, well, I think he was rattled by the birth. The thought of losing you, perhaps.”
“Perhaps.” Zod raised a hand to his mouth and rubbed his index finger over his upper lip thoughtfully. It might have been the reason, but he suspected that his Jor had ceased to trust him. That the allegations had made more of an impact on Jor-El than they had on the rest of the population.
“I know you don’t remember much. I’m sure the situation scared him.”
“It scared you.” The corner of his mouth twitched.
“If you don’t stop teasing me for crying, I’m going to release the holding cell video to the public. Let the masses see the tender bits of Zod.”
Zod raised his hands in surrender. “I am amazed that hasn’t gained me scorn in the military already.”
”It really wasn’t as bad as you think. In any case, I think their reaction is sensible, considering it likely occurred to many of the soldiers for the first time that they could be spasming out a baby.”
“Soon enough that will be the case. Our numbers are going to be down quite a bit when we finally move.”
“I’m working on the Green Plague when I can. I don’t believe I can neutralize the effects of the radiation.”
“Don’t. We need to focus on getting out of here healthy. If we could fix the problem with the core, we would have done so already.” Zod opened the com and paged a secretary, asking him to have dinner for three brought up to his office.
“Do we know which planet we are heading to? Or is that classified?”
“It is not classified. At least among those who know we will be moving.” Zod watched in admiration as Lara switched breasts. It was intriguing, the reproductive function of that part of her, which he had enjoyed so thoroughly in another capacity, but all in all he was glad that his physical contribution was over. While he loved his son fanatically, he would have given up his bodily integrity for no one else. He still felt pain in his abdomen and back, and despite having quickly lost his extra baby fat, his stomach still did not have its former tone, which aggrieved him quite a bit. He supposed he would have to be patient. “Jor has not chosen a planet yet, that I know of.”
***
Krypton
Seven Years After the Theft of Kandor
The Hall of Worlds
Jor-El looked down at his shoes and flushed. The Hall of Worlds had been around for longer than anyone could say, detailing the exploration of every world the Kryptonians had explored, but separatism and nationalism had grown so close over the past century that no new planets had been added in a very long time. In fact, the Hall was veritably deserted today. Only students ever visited, and only in order to fulfill class requirements. Jor-El doubted Zod had taken him here on assignment, however.
Behind the Corlis exhibit, Zod grabbed Jor-El’s ass and pulled the younger boy’s hips to his own. He could feel Jor-El’s gasp as he kissed him fiercely.
“Wait wait.” Jor-El gasped. He pressed his palm against the other boy’s chest and felt his long silky hair, which he had worn loose for the occasion. “Um.”
“Slower?”
“I… don’t even know your house name.”
Zod stopped smiling and looked at him impassively. “Zod is my house name.”
Jor-El felt awkward, as though he’d said something wrong. “Then I don’t even know your given name.”
Zod didn’t smile, but his eyes appeared amused. “It’s Dru.”
“Dru? That’s… softer than I would have thought.”
“Soft? You think the name of Zod is soft?”
“You’re so weird sometimes.” Jor-El reached up and gave him a chaste little peck on the lips.
“Is Zod weird?” He gently stroked Jor-El’s neck. The boy shivered at his experienced touch. Jor-El had never been kissed, been held like this. Zod’s strong hands stayed on his back this time, but still kept him close. He bowed his head and started to smell Jor-El’s neck.
”Haha. What are you doing?”
”Taking you in.”
“What am I like?”
“You’re fresh. Pure.”
Jor-El opened his mouth in shock as Zod put his mouth against his neck and began a slow, hard sucking. He could feel the tip of Zod’s tongue and the slight press of teeth. He squirmed at the feeling. It hurt a little, but he thought he might like parts of it. When Zod looked up at him with a wicked smirk, Jor-El looked back, baffled. “What was that?”
“I marked you.” Slender fingers gently rubbed against the saliva-slicked spot on Jor-El’s neck. The boy was confused, obviously, but not put off by Zod’s behavior. He slid a hand onto the small of Jor-El’s back and guided him away from the wall. “So others will know not to bother you. We have plenty of time for everything else.”
The two of them walked around the Hall of Worlds, reading the exhibits quietly. Every so often, Jor-El would catch Zod’s eye and blush again. Zod took Jor-El’s hand in his own and swung it a bit.
“We’ve accomplished much.”
“My family found some of these worlds,” Jor-El said proudly.
“Oh?”
Jor-El appeared to be going somewhere. He walked a bit faster and grinned a little. “Yes. There are a few that my ancestors visited regularly, before the ban on space travel.”
Zod was following his lead now, interested. “Did they. For what reason?”
“I don’t really know.” Jor-El led them down a corridor. “Up this way, there’s one we still visit.”
Zod stopped. “What?”
“Er…” Jor-El stopped and turned. “I mean… we still visit it here in the museum.”
Zod dropped his hand and narrowed his eyes coldly. “I am not a low class fool. I know what you meant. I just don’t know how you could possibly do so with the Eradicators.”
“I uh…”
Zod swept past him further into the corridor. Jor-El felt his heart sink as he watched Zod storm away. He stood there for a moment feeling as though he must have ruined their budding courtship. Slowly he ventured down the corridor after Zod.
The path opened into its own room filled with the history of the planet in question and a holographic orb representing it. Zod stood over the hologram, examining it curiously.
”Have you ever been to Earth?”
“No.” Jor-El started when Zod turned suddenly and regarded him so intensely that he felt as though Zod were looking straight through him. “I really haven’t. Not yet.”
“I see.”
“Please don’t be angry. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”
“I won’t say anything.” Zod stepped closer to Jor-El, who had been standing quite far away. Zod was aware that he could be frightening when angry. “I won’t. I promise.”
“Will you get into trouble for keeping a secret like that? You being in the military?”
Zod’s hand rested on Jor-El’s shoulder. He gripped the small shoulder reassuringly. “They won’t find out unless I want them to do so. I’m in control of my situation. You have nothing to worry about.”
Zod flipped the curl on Jor-El’s forehead. Jor-El laughed softly.
“I should not have lost my temper with you.” Zod leaned in and kissed his forehead gently. “Do let me know if you are ever able to go. I’m very interested in this sort of thing.”
Jor-El slipped his arms around Zod’s waist and laid his head on his shoulder. “I will. I don’t want to go, though. I’d rather stay here and study.”
“Don’t you like to explore?”
“Not alone, I don’t. Maybe if you could come with me, I’d like it.” Jor-El looked up at him and tried to imagine what it would be like to include Zod’s consciousness in the android they sent to Earth when he visited. Just for awhile, their minds as one. “I don’t think my father would allow it, though.”
“You worry about what he thinks quite a bit.”
“He has a lot of control over what I do. Ima’s kinder. He’ll like you.”
“How could he not?” Zod gave him another peck on the lips and craned his head towards the planet. “Galaxy view.”
The hologram shifted to display the galaxy.
“It’s sad,” Jor-El said. Zod raised a brow and held him tightly.
“What is sad?”
“There are no other species close to their planet. I don’t… well my family has generally thought that isolationism isn’t really the way to go. The Earthians are all alone, you know? They can’t reach out to other species, even if they wanted to.”
“Don’t they know about us? If your family visits so often?”
“No. They look like us.”
“Really?” Zod said in surprise. “Parallel evolution?”
“We’re not sure yet.”
“If they don’t know there is other sentient life out there, perhaps they don’t miss it. Perhaps they don’t know to be lonely.”
”Some of them do. Somehow they know. I’ve seen the vids from my ima’s visit and others. Some of them know other planets have life, and they yearn to meet it. They know, and they’re lonely because of it. That’s why it’s sad.”
***
Present
Club Zero
“So is Zod going to be out of commission until he has the… uh…”
“Twins.” The Flex paced around Clark leisurely. Chloe sat closely to him, listening to their plans. It was incredibly difficult to pay attention when she was trying so hard not to laugh. “It isn’t really so much that Zod will be so terribly vulnerable. It’s that he’s going to-“
“Release the other prisoners in the Phantom Zone.”
The Flex nodded. It turned its head a bit and raised a brow at the small Asian human, neatly grooming itself in the midst of the apocalypse, who was hovering nearby and eyeing both him and Clark anxiously. It ignored her. “Therefore, as soon as Lex finishes his part, you need to subdue Zod and Ursa.”
“So he’s waiting…” Chloe bit her lip. The Flex smiled at her with that eerie Lexish yet not-Lexish grin. That killed her amusement. “Once the babies are born, he’ll let the others out. But not before. So Clark has to stop him then, or we might not get another chance.”
“Clark is just one man. If Zod is tipped off too soon that you are ready to take him on, he might decide to let some of the Kryptonians out early to protect his position and his children. It depends on how much of a threat he perceives you to be,” the Flex answered. Clark rubbed his hands over his jeans.
“How can I stop him?”
“Fight him?” The Flex circled them and looked over in Lex’s direction. Clark kept part of his hearing turned to Lex’s wavering heartbeat.
“Why the hell didn’t Fine give him medical attention sooner?” he demanded. The Flex shrugged. “This plan won’t work without him!”
“No it won’t. He suggested earlier pulling in Chloe, but her brain is too small. Too weak. She’d never survive the download of Kryptonian information.”
“Gee, thanks.” Chloe rolled her eyes.
“It isn’t a matter of compliment, Miss Sullivan. It’s who you are and what he is.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Clark asserted firmly.
The Flex smirked and said casually, “We thought he would be finished before he died.”
Chloe and Clark looked in amazement on the retreating back of the Flex. It walked up to Fine, caressed his shoulder, then shot off.
“That thing is creepy creep beyond the creepiness of creepy.” Chloe felt her lip curl back. The sound of Clark’s soft laughter relaxed her immensely. She pushed some hair behind her ears. Nevaeh had fixed it up in pigtails for her earlier that morning to match her own, but with no hairbrush it was messy. “I am so glad you’re back. I’m so glad we have a plan, even if it does hinge on Lex.”
“He saved all of your lives. Several times over. I have to give him credit for that, no matter what else he’s done.” Clark frowned at the confusing feelings inside of him. He got so angry at Lex, so quickly and intensely and often, but seeing Lex hurting, while he was unable to save him, cut him straight to his soul. Seeing another man hover over him so protectively, both Fine and this Bruce, hurt as well, that he hadn’t known about either of them. “You’d be dead, Chloe. My mom…”
“I’m not denying that, Clark. And don’t think I don’t appreciate it!” She curled her feet up onto the cooler they were both sitting on. He brushed his fingers against the bruises on her face, and looked into her eyes. She knew she didn’t have to explain to him how she’d gotten them. His eyes weren’t questioning, but apologetic for not having been there. “But be careful. Lex is… he hides.”
“So do I.”
“Lex hides different things than you do,” Lana said softly, coming up to them. She fussed with her long, black hair, which was as clean and neat as she could get it under the circumstances. Clark looked away. She frowned and crossed her arms. “What’s going on, Clark?”
“I understand him a lot better now. Now that I’ve watched him with his guards down.”
“I mean, why didn’t you say anything to me when you came back? Why haven’t you said anything yet? Why are you avoiding me?”
Clark turned and looked at her dead on. He was suddenly struck with the memory of Lana when she was seven years old, denied some toy or treat that she had tried to grab from another child. “Believe it or not, there are more important things to worry about right now than Lana Lang.”
Lana crumpled her nose and stomped away.
“Clark?”
“Don’t Chloe.”
“I’m not. I was wishing she was dead a few weeks ago.”
Clark’s brows rose.
“Well, unlike everyone else in the tricity area, I didn’t act on that desire. You just...” She paused, looked down considering her words, then up into his eyes again. “Don’t want to say anything you’ll regret. You think this is easy for any of us? She was really upset when she thought Lex was dead.”
“Yeah, she seems pretty broken up over him right now.” Clark watched the dark haired man, nodding his head gently as he clutched Lex’s hand stubbornly. He hadn’t left Lex’s side. Chloe shrugged. “She didn’t even know him well enough to know that Zod wasn’t Lex.”
“I remember you being tricked by an evil Lex once or twice. Did you know when you met the Vessel that it wasn’t him?”
“I could tell he wasn’t himself.” Clark started to walk towards a group of three Revers he could hear discussing their sweep of the city. Chloe hopped up and followed. “I don’t know Lex as well as I’d like to. There have been a lot of secrets between us, and Chloe, I think we could have prevented this if we had had the sense to trust each other when it made sense to. At least I should have trusted Lex more than a teacher I just met or been asking more questions of both of them. I took too much for granted.”
Chloe shook her head. “I think we should concentrate on what needs to be done now instead of how much we’d jacked up already.”
Clark nodded. “So, you think I should patrol with your little girlfriend?”
“Ugh. Clark! She’s underaged.” Chloe grimaced, then started. “And a she. She’s a she, Clark.”
Clark smiled and hugged Chloe by the shoulders.
“You can’t go out anyway. Zod can’t know you’re here until Lex disentangles the Brainiac computer from the Kryptonian Eradicator system. You can’t fight a million of those clones at once.”
“Oh. Then I guess I’ll go help my mom fix something to eat for everyone.”
”And shoo off the Luthor vulture over there before it ruins everyone’s meal,” Chloe remarked, pointing to Lionel. Clark’s nostrils flared in disgust.
***
Lex smiled.
He dreamed often of that little boy. Sitting with him in the middle of a cold, cold place where crystals stuck up at odd angles around them. It was quite peaceful, altogether. All alone together.
His dreams, though, were like jagged ill-fitting pieces of his life trying to come together. There were noises in the background that he could not quite fathom. And crying. And a woman screaming in anger or terror. Words from the hundreds of people telling him who and what he was.
There were flits of visions. A man beating his child with a hot poker. Tubes and tests and more tests. A woman smiling with a pillow in her hand. A young man standing in place as a car bent around him inexplicably.
There was that little boy reaching out to him, trailing his fingers along the crown of his newly bald head, down the side of his cheek, and underneath his chin, as though he knew and loved him immediately in a way that no one else would ever be able to, because they would never quite be able to see him as his boy did.
He had some kind of special vision, and he could see into his soul. That boy.
Clark.
Bruce’s features sharpened in eagerness as he watched Lex’s face dream. He wasn’t yet awake, but he hadn’t seemed to react adversely to Lionel’s blood, and he didn’t look quite so dead. Now his eyes were moving fitfully underneath his lids and his face was starting to come back to life. Bruce caressed the side of Lex’s face, drawing out the touch slowly and curled his fingers under Lex’s chin.
A hoarse, hopeful noise. “Clark…”
Bruce froze. He felt a grin spread across his despite his dismay the name on Lex’s lips was not his own. “No, no, Lex. Alexander, it’s me.”
Lex’s eyes were moving a little. Slowly at first, then fighting to stay open. Clark had somehow gotten to their side very quickly.
“C’mon, Lex,” Clark encouraged. Lex’s hand flickered, trying to reach up. Bruce took it.
“Clark,” Lex rasped again. As he blinked his eyes several times, what he saw refused to come to order. He regulated the problem in his mind and not the actual functioning of his eyes. He tried to sit up and hands pushed him down. “Stop…”
“You still need to rest. Just stay still for now.” A vaguely familiar male voice. Low. And serious.
Something. Something important that must be done right away. “I have to… the program…”
“Later.”
“No. It can’t wait!” Lex heard his voice crack, and he pushed himself up and glared at the faces around him in frustration. “Bruce? What are you doing here?”
“You called me.” Bruce looked into his eyes. “I came.”
“Oh, is that all it took to get you to come back.” Came the flat, dry response. “Someone get the man a medal.” Lex felt that at the moment his voice was refusing to carry sufficient menace, and he simply sounded weak and upset. Bruce seemed to have picked up on his intent and smiled gently with his eyes.
“That’s my Lex.”
“I’m not your Lex.” Lex looked around him. There were several people around his bed, not all faces he recognized. Some which he did. “Hi, Hellspawn.”
Nevaeh grinned widely and waved with a pinkie. “Hi, Lex.”
“You look well.”
“You look horrible.” She grinned and twirled a pigtail.
“Why are we in Club Zero?” Lex didn’t know who he was asking or who could answer.
“You told me that you’d fitted this place as a hideout.” Bruce explained, placing his other hand over the hand he was already grasping. Lex looked down at the sign of affection and pulled his arm back. He could hear his father ‘hmph’ derisively. Lionel stayed clear for them moment, but his lurking hadn’t gone unnoticed. He would be forced into some kind of “fatherly” lecture sooner or later.
“I haven’t seen you in years.” he replied sharply.
“A part of you told me.”
Lex sighed. “The Vessel. Great.”
“I hear that Vessel gets around,” Chloe put in. She was leaning on her palms against the ship.
“Why is the ship in Club Zero?”
“You died.” She tilted her head a bit and raised a brow. “Again.”
“I should probably try to cut back on that,” he said flatly. To Lex’s surprise, Clark knelt suddenly beside his cot and wrapped his arms around him tightly. “Clark?? Uh… not so tight!”
Clark jumped and looked ashamed. “Oh, damn. Sorry. The scars, I forgot.”
Lex looked down at his naked chest and the torn sweater.
“Thank you.” Clark tried to meet his eyes.
Lex pressed his lips together and frowned silently.
“For protecting my friends and family.”
“Oh... Well, as you can see I didn’t actually do that in person.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bruce beginning to brood. “Clark, you’ve met Bruce? My… roommate at Excelsior.”
Bruce offered a stiff hand. Clark took it firmly and squeezed a little too hard. Bruce refused to be the first to pull away. Lex turned his head just in time to see Chloe shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
“If you two are quite finished, I really need to get back to work.”
The two of them looked at him.
“Unless, you want to continue that somewhere in private?”
“No!” They both said at once. Chloe burst out laughing. Lex squirmed on the cot.
Bruce tightened his jaw and looked at him sternly. “I’m not kidding, Lex. If you want to get this done, you’re going to have to take it easy, and you know that.”
Lex pursed his lips.
“I won’t stop you from working, but you need to lie back down.” When Lex hesitated, Bruce pushed lightly on Lex’s bare chest. Lex sighed, but didn’t resist much. He eased back into the pillows and tried to close the sweater with one hand.
“It’s nice to see you’re still a controlling pain in the ass.”
“It’s nice to see you’re still a neurotic overachiever. Not even death can deter you from your complex machinations. I’ll get you another shirt. Your new boyfriend had to give you the electric paddles with his palms.” Bruce stood gingerly and gave Clark a hard glance. “Nice judgment there, by the way.”
“I thought he was human when we met...” Lex drawled. He noticed that Bruce was favoring his right foot quite a bit. He looked at Clark questioningly, and Clark shrugged with some embarrassment. He hadn’t even thought to ask.
”Hate it when that happens. So, tell me. Has every major relationship you’ve had since I left ending with them trying to kill you?”
“Pretty much, yes,” Lex answered quickly. He didn’t have to see Bruce’s face to know that he was amused. He stalked back over with a large white shirt from the stack of supplies they’d looted from a local Wal-mart recently. Lex began to wiggle out of the old sweater. Clark placed a hand behind his back and helped him out of it more gently then Lex had expected of him. Then Bruce sat on the edge of the cot, edging out Clark, and slipped the shirt over Lex’s head. He sat stiffly, looked at Lex a bit uncomfortably. Bruce wanted Lex to initiate the conversation. He simply looked at the two men beside his cot skeptically.
“Do the two of you mind?” Fine worked his way through the crowd with a silver laptop under his arm. With the left hand, he flicked at Bruce and Clark then sat on the cot with Lex. “I’ve set this up so you can work on this from here. We’re running out of time.”
“How much longer do we have?”
“At the most, three weeks.”
Lex licked his lips and opened the laptop. “I’ll have it before then. I got caught, but… I think I know how to finish reworking your program now.”
“Good. You’ll want to give Clark some time.” Fine put his hand on Lex’s shoulder. He tensed.
Bruce and Clark received a stab of pleasure. Lex looked over at Clark questioningly. “Time for what?”
“To stop Zod,” Fine answered.
“I didn’t know you cared about saving humanity.”
“Well. I don’t. But you do.”
“How very sweet of you.” He replied sardonically, turning his attention to the screen and away from the three men who seemed to want it.
Summary: Zod has babies. What’s an evil warlord to do?
Pairing: Zod/Jor-El, Zod/ many others. He’s a sex god. Expect everything warm to be fucked, so…
Rating: NC-17 because I’m a perv
Warning: Severe plot bastardization (and Clark bastardization), but IC (I hope), and MPREG. Twice!
Spoilers: Smallville through season five, Superman II, basic Batman and Superman comic canon.
Krypton
20 Years Ago
Science Spire
Zod paced in his office predatorily. With Peru-Col and Seig-An out of the picture, he effectively had no more stumbling blocks on his designated path. Authoritatively, he kicked their plans into high gear, moving the experiments along, forcing the new space program to go public, and above all, keeping the masses unaware of the severe urgency of their situation. The last thing he needed was for the people to panic. Overall, he admired his race for their superiority, but many of them were too limited to realize what he was doing for them, so he had to be cautious who knew the full details to their project. Of course, any who opposed him were tortured mercilessly. He pressed his com and ordered the military to go ahead and round up the stragglers who refused to leave the new danger zones, with force if necessary. Although Ursa almost always deemed force necessary. Kal cooed in his snuggly on Zod’s chest.
Zod kept his son with him at all times. He’d set up a crib in his office so that he could work and scheduled time during the day when he, Lara, and Jor would be together. If he didn’t leave the office on schedule, as often was the case, Lara would drop by and cuddle and play with their son. It wasn’t much of a bother for her to do so, since she was working in the building these days anyway. She had to feed Kal every two hours, so it had been better for them all to include her on the medical end of their project and give her partial disclosure. The early experiments, for instance, were not mentioned. Lara, as usual, had taken the project seriously, treated the secrecy as the logical course of action given the political factors involved, and began familiarizing herself with the work already done on the potential reactions of their people to this kind of treatment. Another woman may have thought to complain about the use of secrecy, and the lies of omission, but Lara instead commented sardonically about the brilliance of their ancestors, protecting them so well that their generation had to find a means out of that protection or die en masse.
Lara smirked at the image of Zod ruthlessly preparing their society for a move with a baby strapped to his chest. Shortly after he’d managed to get back on his feet, noticing that his locks were not becoming any less wilted, Zod had shaved his head almost bare. Now he had only a soft white fuzz. Kal adored it, and sometimes at night she watched as their son ran his hands over his bearer’s head in fascination.
“You should order up something to eat. As it is, I’m going to have to feed Kal again in a few minutes,” Lara interrupted. She’d been working on her CompuPAD, sneaking peeks at the two of them furtively and messaging Jor about their adorableness.
To his credit, Zod looked suitably startled. He checked the time. “Already? I didn’t realize.” He shut off his com and took Kal’s little hand. “Are you ready to eat, Kally? Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry?”
Lara smiled and stood as Zod started to unstrap Kal. She opened her shirt and took the boy gently.
“I feel like I’m keeping him from you,” Zod said suddenly. Lara raised her brows. That was the closest she’d ever heard Zod come to an apology.
“It isn’t as though Jor and I can’t come up here easily. I understand your need to be close to him, and in truth, he’s much more content when you are around. I thought he was going to be fussy at first.” She cradled Kal’s head and encouraged him to take her nipple. “Anyway, the behavior is perfectly normal biologically-“
“I adore your attachment to science, Lara, but for once I’m talking about the relationships of people and not scientific properties.” Zod sat on his desk and looked at her with concern.
“You’re worried about Jor. He’s been, well, I think he was rattled by the birth. The thought of losing you, perhaps.”
“Perhaps.” Zod raised a hand to his mouth and rubbed his index finger over his upper lip thoughtfully. It might have been the reason, but he suspected that his Jor had ceased to trust him. That the allegations had made more of an impact on Jor-El than they had on the rest of the population.
“I know you don’t remember much. I’m sure the situation scared him.”
“It scared you.” The corner of his mouth twitched.
“If you don’t stop teasing me for crying, I’m going to release the holding cell video to the public. Let the masses see the tender bits of Zod.”
Zod raised his hands in surrender. “I am amazed that hasn’t gained me scorn in the military already.”
”It really wasn’t as bad as you think. In any case, I think their reaction is sensible, considering it likely occurred to many of the soldiers for the first time that they could be spasming out a baby.”
“Soon enough that will be the case. Our numbers are going to be down quite a bit when we finally move.”
“I’m working on the Green Plague when I can. I don’t believe I can neutralize the effects of the radiation.”
“Don’t. We need to focus on getting out of here healthy. If we could fix the problem with the core, we would have done so already.” Zod opened the com and paged a secretary, asking him to have dinner for three brought up to his office.
“Do we know which planet we are heading to? Or is that classified?”
“It is not classified. At least among those who know we will be moving.” Zod watched in admiration as Lara switched breasts. It was intriguing, the reproductive function of that part of her, which he had enjoyed so thoroughly in another capacity, but all in all he was glad that his physical contribution was over. While he loved his son fanatically, he would have given up his bodily integrity for no one else. He still felt pain in his abdomen and back, and despite having quickly lost his extra baby fat, his stomach still did not have its former tone, which aggrieved him quite a bit. He supposed he would have to be patient. “Jor has not chosen a planet yet, that I know of.”
***
Krypton
Seven Years After the Theft of Kandor
The Hall of Worlds
Jor-El looked down at his shoes and flushed. The Hall of Worlds had been around for longer than anyone could say, detailing the exploration of every world the Kryptonians had explored, but separatism and nationalism had grown so close over the past century that no new planets had been added in a very long time. In fact, the Hall was veritably deserted today. Only students ever visited, and only in order to fulfill class requirements. Jor-El doubted Zod had taken him here on assignment, however.
Behind the Corlis exhibit, Zod grabbed Jor-El’s ass and pulled the younger boy’s hips to his own. He could feel Jor-El’s gasp as he kissed him fiercely.
“Wait wait.” Jor-El gasped. He pressed his palm against the other boy’s chest and felt his long silky hair, which he had worn loose for the occasion. “Um.”
“Slower?”
“I… don’t even know your house name.”
Zod stopped smiling and looked at him impassively. “Zod is my house name.”
Jor-El felt awkward, as though he’d said something wrong. “Then I don’t even know your given name.”
Zod didn’t smile, but his eyes appeared amused. “It’s Dru.”
“Dru? That’s… softer than I would have thought.”
“Soft? You think the name of Zod is soft?”
“You’re so weird sometimes.” Jor-El reached up and gave him a chaste little peck on the lips.
“Is Zod weird?” He gently stroked Jor-El’s neck. The boy shivered at his experienced touch. Jor-El had never been kissed, been held like this. Zod’s strong hands stayed on his back this time, but still kept him close. He bowed his head and started to smell Jor-El’s neck.
”Haha. What are you doing?”
”Taking you in.”
“What am I like?”
“You’re fresh. Pure.”
Jor-El opened his mouth in shock as Zod put his mouth against his neck and began a slow, hard sucking. He could feel the tip of Zod’s tongue and the slight press of teeth. He squirmed at the feeling. It hurt a little, but he thought he might like parts of it. When Zod looked up at him with a wicked smirk, Jor-El looked back, baffled. “What was that?”
“I marked you.” Slender fingers gently rubbed against the saliva-slicked spot on Jor-El’s neck. The boy was confused, obviously, but not put off by Zod’s behavior. He slid a hand onto the small of Jor-El’s back and guided him away from the wall. “So others will know not to bother you. We have plenty of time for everything else.”
The two of them walked around the Hall of Worlds, reading the exhibits quietly. Every so often, Jor-El would catch Zod’s eye and blush again. Zod took Jor-El’s hand in his own and swung it a bit.
“We’ve accomplished much.”
“My family found some of these worlds,” Jor-El said proudly.
“Oh?”
Jor-El appeared to be going somewhere. He walked a bit faster and grinned a little. “Yes. There are a few that my ancestors visited regularly, before the ban on space travel.”
Zod was following his lead now, interested. “Did they. For what reason?”
“I don’t really know.” Jor-El led them down a corridor. “Up this way, there’s one we still visit.”
Zod stopped. “What?”
“Er…” Jor-El stopped and turned. “I mean… we still visit it here in the museum.”
Zod dropped his hand and narrowed his eyes coldly. “I am not a low class fool. I know what you meant. I just don’t know how you could possibly do so with the Eradicators.”
“I uh…”
Zod swept past him further into the corridor. Jor-El felt his heart sink as he watched Zod storm away. He stood there for a moment feeling as though he must have ruined their budding courtship. Slowly he ventured down the corridor after Zod.
The path opened into its own room filled with the history of the planet in question and a holographic orb representing it. Zod stood over the hologram, examining it curiously.
”Have you ever been to Earth?”
“No.” Jor-El started when Zod turned suddenly and regarded him so intensely that he felt as though Zod were looking straight through him. “I really haven’t. Not yet.”
“I see.”
“Please don’t be angry. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”
“I won’t say anything.” Zod stepped closer to Jor-El, who had been standing quite far away. Zod was aware that he could be frightening when angry. “I won’t. I promise.”
“Will you get into trouble for keeping a secret like that? You being in the military?”
Zod’s hand rested on Jor-El’s shoulder. He gripped the small shoulder reassuringly. “They won’t find out unless I want them to do so. I’m in control of my situation. You have nothing to worry about.”
Zod flipped the curl on Jor-El’s forehead. Jor-El laughed softly.
“I should not have lost my temper with you.” Zod leaned in and kissed his forehead gently. “Do let me know if you are ever able to go. I’m very interested in this sort of thing.”
Jor-El slipped his arms around Zod’s waist and laid his head on his shoulder. “I will. I don’t want to go, though. I’d rather stay here and study.”
“Don’t you like to explore?”
“Not alone, I don’t. Maybe if you could come with me, I’d like it.” Jor-El looked up at him and tried to imagine what it would be like to include Zod’s consciousness in the android they sent to Earth when he visited. Just for awhile, their minds as one. “I don’t think my father would allow it, though.”
“You worry about what he thinks quite a bit.”
“He has a lot of control over what I do. Ima’s kinder. He’ll like you.”
“How could he not?” Zod gave him another peck on the lips and craned his head towards the planet. “Galaxy view.”
The hologram shifted to display the galaxy.
“It’s sad,” Jor-El said. Zod raised a brow and held him tightly.
“What is sad?”
“There are no other species close to their planet. I don’t… well my family has generally thought that isolationism isn’t really the way to go. The Earthians are all alone, you know? They can’t reach out to other species, even if they wanted to.”
“Don’t they know about us? If your family visits so often?”
“No. They look like us.”
“Really?” Zod said in surprise. “Parallel evolution?”
“We’re not sure yet.”
“If they don’t know there is other sentient life out there, perhaps they don’t miss it. Perhaps they don’t know to be lonely.”
”Some of them do. Somehow they know. I’ve seen the vids from my ima’s visit and others. Some of them know other planets have life, and they yearn to meet it. They know, and they’re lonely because of it. That’s why it’s sad.”
***
Present
Club Zero
“So is Zod going to be out of commission until he has the… uh…”
“Twins.” The Flex paced around Clark leisurely. Chloe sat closely to him, listening to their plans. It was incredibly difficult to pay attention when she was trying so hard not to laugh. “It isn’t really so much that Zod will be so terribly vulnerable. It’s that he’s going to-“
“Release the other prisoners in the Phantom Zone.”
The Flex nodded. It turned its head a bit and raised a brow at the small Asian human, neatly grooming itself in the midst of the apocalypse, who was hovering nearby and eyeing both him and Clark anxiously. It ignored her. “Therefore, as soon as Lex finishes his part, you need to subdue Zod and Ursa.”
“So he’s waiting…” Chloe bit her lip. The Flex smiled at her with that eerie Lexish yet not-Lexish grin. That killed her amusement. “Once the babies are born, he’ll let the others out. But not before. So Clark has to stop him then, or we might not get another chance.”
“Clark is just one man. If Zod is tipped off too soon that you are ready to take him on, he might decide to let some of the Kryptonians out early to protect his position and his children. It depends on how much of a threat he perceives you to be,” the Flex answered. Clark rubbed his hands over his jeans.
“How can I stop him?”
“Fight him?” The Flex circled them and looked over in Lex’s direction. Clark kept part of his hearing turned to Lex’s wavering heartbeat.
“Why the hell didn’t Fine give him medical attention sooner?” he demanded. The Flex shrugged. “This plan won’t work without him!”
“No it won’t. He suggested earlier pulling in Chloe, but her brain is too small. Too weak. She’d never survive the download of Kryptonian information.”
“Gee, thanks.” Chloe rolled her eyes.
“It isn’t a matter of compliment, Miss Sullivan. It’s who you are and what he is.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Clark asserted firmly.
The Flex smirked and said casually, “We thought he would be finished before he died.”
Chloe and Clark looked in amazement on the retreating back of the Flex. It walked up to Fine, caressed his shoulder, then shot off.
“That thing is creepy creep beyond the creepiness of creepy.” Chloe felt her lip curl back. The sound of Clark’s soft laughter relaxed her immensely. She pushed some hair behind her ears. Nevaeh had fixed it up in pigtails for her earlier that morning to match her own, but with no hairbrush it was messy. “I am so glad you’re back. I’m so glad we have a plan, even if it does hinge on Lex.”
“He saved all of your lives. Several times over. I have to give him credit for that, no matter what else he’s done.” Clark frowned at the confusing feelings inside of him. He got so angry at Lex, so quickly and intensely and often, but seeing Lex hurting, while he was unable to save him, cut him straight to his soul. Seeing another man hover over him so protectively, both Fine and this Bruce, hurt as well, that he hadn’t known about either of them. “You’d be dead, Chloe. My mom…”
“I’m not denying that, Clark. And don’t think I don’t appreciate it!” She curled her feet up onto the cooler they were both sitting on. He brushed his fingers against the bruises on her face, and looked into her eyes. She knew she didn’t have to explain to him how she’d gotten them. His eyes weren’t questioning, but apologetic for not having been there. “But be careful. Lex is… he hides.”
“So do I.”
“Lex hides different things than you do,” Lana said softly, coming up to them. She fussed with her long, black hair, which was as clean and neat as she could get it under the circumstances. Clark looked away. She frowned and crossed her arms. “What’s going on, Clark?”
“I understand him a lot better now. Now that I’ve watched him with his guards down.”
“I mean, why didn’t you say anything to me when you came back? Why haven’t you said anything yet? Why are you avoiding me?”
Clark turned and looked at her dead on. He was suddenly struck with the memory of Lana when she was seven years old, denied some toy or treat that she had tried to grab from another child. “Believe it or not, there are more important things to worry about right now than Lana Lang.”
Lana crumpled her nose and stomped away.
“Clark?”
“Don’t Chloe.”
“I’m not. I was wishing she was dead a few weeks ago.”
Clark’s brows rose.
“Well, unlike everyone else in the tricity area, I didn’t act on that desire. You just...” She paused, looked down considering her words, then up into his eyes again. “Don’t want to say anything you’ll regret. You think this is easy for any of us? She was really upset when she thought Lex was dead.”
“Yeah, she seems pretty broken up over him right now.” Clark watched the dark haired man, nodding his head gently as he clutched Lex’s hand stubbornly. He hadn’t left Lex’s side. Chloe shrugged. “She didn’t even know him well enough to know that Zod wasn’t Lex.”
“I remember you being tricked by an evil Lex once or twice. Did you know when you met the Vessel that it wasn’t him?”
“I could tell he wasn’t himself.” Clark started to walk towards a group of three Revers he could hear discussing their sweep of the city. Chloe hopped up and followed. “I don’t know Lex as well as I’d like to. There have been a lot of secrets between us, and Chloe, I think we could have prevented this if we had had the sense to trust each other when it made sense to. At least I should have trusted Lex more than a teacher I just met or been asking more questions of both of them. I took too much for granted.”
Chloe shook her head. “I think we should concentrate on what needs to be done now instead of how much we’d jacked up already.”
Clark nodded. “So, you think I should patrol with your little girlfriend?”
“Ugh. Clark! She’s underaged.” Chloe grimaced, then started. “And a she. She’s a she, Clark.”
Clark smiled and hugged Chloe by the shoulders.
“You can’t go out anyway. Zod can’t know you’re here until Lex disentangles the Brainiac computer from the Kryptonian Eradicator system. You can’t fight a million of those clones at once.”
“Oh. Then I guess I’ll go help my mom fix something to eat for everyone.”
”And shoo off the Luthor vulture over there before it ruins everyone’s meal,” Chloe remarked, pointing to Lionel. Clark’s nostrils flared in disgust.
***
Lex smiled.
He dreamed often of that little boy. Sitting with him in the middle of a cold, cold place where crystals stuck up at odd angles around them. It was quite peaceful, altogether. All alone together.
His dreams, though, were like jagged ill-fitting pieces of his life trying to come together. There were noises in the background that he could not quite fathom. And crying. And a woman screaming in anger or terror. Words from the hundreds of people telling him who and what he was.
There were flits of visions. A man beating his child with a hot poker. Tubes and tests and more tests. A woman smiling with a pillow in her hand. A young man standing in place as a car bent around him inexplicably.
There was that little boy reaching out to him, trailing his fingers along the crown of his newly bald head, down the side of his cheek, and underneath his chin, as though he knew and loved him immediately in a way that no one else would ever be able to, because they would never quite be able to see him as his boy did.
He had some kind of special vision, and he could see into his soul. That boy.
Clark.
Bruce’s features sharpened in eagerness as he watched Lex’s face dream. He wasn’t yet awake, but he hadn’t seemed to react adversely to Lionel’s blood, and he didn’t look quite so dead. Now his eyes were moving fitfully underneath his lids and his face was starting to come back to life. Bruce caressed the side of Lex’s face, drawing out the touch slowly and curled his fingers under Lex’s chin.
A hoarse, hopeful noise. “Clark…”
Bruce froze. He felt a grin spread across his despite his dismay the name on Lex’s lips was not his own. “No, no, Lex. Alexander, it’s me.”
Lex’s eyes were moving a little. Slowly at first, then fighting to stay open. Clark had somehow gotten to their side very quickly.
“C’mon, Lex,” Clark encouraged. Lex’s hand flickered, trying to reach up. Bruce took it.
“Clark,” Lex rasped again. As he blinked his eyes several times, what he saw refused to come to order. He regulated the problem in his mind and not the actual functioning of his eyes. He tried to sit up and hands pushed him down. “Stop…”
“You still need to rest. Just stay still for now.” A vaguely familiar male voice. Low. And serious.
Something. Something important that must be done right away. “I have to… the program…”
“Later.”
“No. It can’t wait!” Lex heard his voice crack, and he pushed himself up and glared at the faces around him in frustration. “Bruce? What are you doing here?”
“You called me.” Bruce looked into his eyes. “I came.”
“Oh, is that all it took to get you to come back.” Came the flat, dry response. “Someone get the man a medal.” Lex felt that at the moment his voice was refusing to carry sufficient menace, and he simply sounded weak and upset. Bruce seemed to have picked up on his intent and smiled gently with his eyes.
“That’s my Lex.”
“I’m not your Lex.” Lex looked around him. There were several people around his bed, not all faces he recognized. Some which he did. “Hi, Hellspawn.”
Nevaeh grinned widely and waved with a pinkie. “Hi, Lex.”
“You look well.”
“You look horrible.” She grinned and twirled a pigtail.
“Why are we in Club Zero?” Lex didn’t know who he was asking or who could answer.
“You told me that you’d fitted this place as a hideout.” Bruce explained, placing his other hand over the hand he was already grasping. Lex looked down at the sign of affection and pulled his arm back. He could hear his father ‘hmph’ derisively. Lionel stayed clear for them moment, but his lurking hadn’t gone unnoticed. He would be forced into some kind of “fatherly” lecture sooner or later.
“I haven’t seen you in years.” he replied sharply.
“A part of you told me.”
Lex sighed. “The Vessel. Great.”
“I hear that Vessel gets around,” Chloe put in. She was leaning on her palms against the ship.
“Why is the ship in Club Zero?”
“You died.” She tilted her head a bit and raised a brow. “Again.”
“I should probably try to cut back on that,” he said flatly. To Lex’s surprise, Clark knelt suddenly beside his cot and wrapped his arms around him tightly. “Clark?? Uh… not so tight!”
Clark jumped and looked ashamed. “Oh, damn. Sorry. The scars, I forgot.”
Lex looked down at his naked chest and the torn sweater.
“Thank you.” Clark tried to meet his eyes.
Lex pressed his lips together and frowned silently.
“For protecting my friends and family.”
“Oh... Well, as you can see I didn’t actually do that in person.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bruce beginning to brood. “Clark, you’ve met Bruce? My… roommate at Excelsior.”
Bruce offered a stiff hand. Clark took it firmly and squeezed a little too hard. Bruce refused to be the first to pull away. Lex turned his head just in time to see Chloe shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
“If you two are quite finished, I really need to get back to work.”
The two of them looked at him.
“Unless, you want to continue that somewhere in private?”
“No!” They both said at once. Chloe burst out laughing. Lex squirmed on the cot.
Bruce tightened his jaw and looked at him sternly. “I’m not kidding, Lex. If you want to get this done, you’re going to have to take it easy, and you know that.”
Lex pursed his lips.
“I won’t stop you from working, but you need to lie back down.” When Lex hesitated, Bruce pushed lightly on Lex’s bare chest. Lex sighed, but didn’t resist much. He eased back into the pillows and tried to close the sweater with one hand.
“It’s nice to see you’re still a controlling pain in the ass.”
“It’s nice to see you’re still a neurotic overachiever. Not even death can deter you from your complex machinations. I’ll get you another shirt. Your new boyfriend had to give you the electric paddles with his palms.” Bruce stood gingerly and gave Clark a hard glance. “Nice judgment there, by the way.”
“I thought he was human when we met...” Lex drawled. He noticed that Bruce was favoring his right foot quite a bit. He looked at Clark questioningly, and Clark shrugged with some embarrassment. He hadn’t even thought to ask.
”Hate it when that happens. So, tell me. Has every major relationship you’ve had since I left ending with them trying to kill you?”
“Pretty much, yes,” Lex answered quickly. He didn’t have to see Bruce’s face to know that he was amused. He stalked back over with a large white shirt from the stack of supplies they’d looted from a local Wal-mart recently. Lex began to wiggle out of the old sweater. Clark placed a hand behind his back and helped him out of it more gently then Lex had expected of him. Then Bruce sat on the edge of the cot, edging out Clark, and slipped the shirt over Lex’s head. He sat stiffly, looked at Lex a bit uncomfortably. Bruce wanted Lex to initiate the conversation. He simply looked at the two men beside his cot skeptically.
“Do the two of you mind?” Fine worked his way through the crowd with a silver laptop under his arm. With the left hand, he flicked at Bruce and Clark then sat on the cot with Lex. “I’ve set this up so you can work on this from here. We’re running out of time.”
“How much longer do we have?”
“At the most, three weeks.”
Lex licked his lips and opened the laptop. “I’ll have it before then. I got caught, but… I think I know how to finish reworking your program now.”
“Good. You’ll want to give Clark some time.” Fine put his hand on Lex’s shoulder. He tensed.
Bruce and Clark received a stab of pleasure. Lex looked over at Clark questioningly. “Time for what?”
“To stop Zod,” Fine answered.
“I didn’t know you cared about saving humanity.”
“Well. I don’t. But you do.”
“How very sweet of you.” He replied sardonically, turning his attention to the screen and away from the three men who seemed to want it.